A brilliant, yet subtle job of screenwriting...

Rating: Null/10 (26 October 2003)

While the production values of this film are quite good, it strongest point is in the screenwriting, though this breaks down a bit toward the end. Still, for the first 1+ hours, there is a great deal of brilliance. One of the biggest complaints I keep reading here and on other message boards is how so little is explained about the virus and how it works, but that is why this movie is so clever. The main characters really don't know what it is, so they cannot explain it. Neither are they "experts" in the field virology that can break it down and come to a conclusion. They have unanswered questions just as we do ... and they are the same questions. For the moment, their struggle is just to stay alive.
It is for this reason that this movie is mostly effective. Because we can't understand the virus, we can't extrapolate a plan of action. Thus, the main characters are forced to blunder their way through to survival without knowing exactly what lies around the next corner ... or how long they may live. It is this that creates the tension in this film which is not a horror film, but a psychological thriller with sci-fi underpinnings. Even when the foursome is watching the horses, there is hope, yet a sense of desperation as well. Driving down the empty highway there is desolation. There are so many subtle maneuvers in the script that it is difficult to see them all in one viewing.
One thing I did like about this movie in particular is the fact that it was not nearly as bloody as I expected. One question I cannot answer, nor did I see anything that might explain it, is: Why didn't the Rage victims attack each other? Hmmmmm? Might have to sit through it again to see if I can catch a hint there.
All in all, this movie has some flaws, but is suspenseful, as it should be, and is worth the price of a rental, just don't expect it to be a "horror" movie as it is advertised.